Top-10 NCAA women’s cross country finish for Central
NEWVILLE, PA.—With its best showing since capturing the first-ever title in 1981, the Central College women’s cross country team had three all-Americans and finished ninth in the NCAA Division III Championships Saturday.
Senior Caroline McMartin (Pella) gained all-America distinction for the second time, placing 12th in 21:20.8 on the demanding 6,000-meter course. It was the highest NCAA finish by a Central runner since Jackie Schwers placed fifth for the 1981 national champions. McMartin was 24th a year ago and 118th in 2021. Senior Megan Johnson (Parkersburg, Aplington-Parkersburg HS) was 30th in 21:39.1 and Addison Parrott (junior, Danville) turned in a career-best effort of 21:49.9 to take 38th. The top 40 finishers receive all-America distinction, so Johnson and Parrott gained that in their first national appearance.
No. 2-ranked Carleton College (Minn.) emerged on top in a tightly contested team race, winning with 151 points sneaking past No. 1-rated New York University had 154, the No. 5- ranked University of Chicago had 156 and No. 6-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) had 158. Central, ranked No. 15 entering the meet, was the top American Rivers finisher in ninth with 292, well ahead of the 10th-place University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which had 292. In one of the day’s biggest surprises, No. 4-ranked Wartburg College, the Midwest Region champs, slipped to 14th with 378. No other Iowa schools were in the elite 32-team field
The lead pack in the race went out at a frantic pace.
“Caroline said it was really hard and talked about how mentally challenging it was,” coach Joe Dunham said. “Caroline showed her grit and used her experience. They went out extremely fast and then they settled in the woods, which was the toughest part of the course. She stayed really calm through those hard parts and let the race come to her. She ran a great race.”
Dunham was excited by the performances of Johnson and Parrott.
“To be an all-American in your first time running at the national meet is just remarkable,” he said. “I can’t say enough about how difficult that is to do. Megan (Johnson) is obviously very talented and she’s an extremely hard worker. It’s her hard work that has put her in this position.
“And Addy (Parrott), for her to be an all-American in her first time running at this race is remarkable. You go through those results and you can see that she beat a lot of really good runners today. I’m just so happy for her. She deserves it.”
But the Dutch needed other strong efforts to get a top-10 team finish and got them. Kira Hooper (junior, Hendersonville, N.C., Citrus Valley HS) was 87th in 22:23.5, Leah Bontrager (sophomore, Wellman, Hillcrest Academy) was 216th in 23:14.3, Hailey Hill (5th-year, Las Vegas, Nev., Palo Verde HS) was 258th in 23:41.0 and Lindsey Davidson (senior, Northwood, Northwood-Kensett HS) was 292nd in 26:29.1.
“Kira Hooper is one of the biggest reasons our team is where it is,” Dunham said. “If you look at how much she’s improved this year, it’s on a whole ‘nother level. And Leah (Bontrager) ran a great race as well.”
Dunham also cited Hill and Davidson, completing their senior seasons.
“I told Lindsey (Davidson) afterwards that she was such a major part of pushing the team to this level,” he said. “She created that competition within our top runners and really pushed all of these women to work hard every single day.”
Dunham said Hill was also instrumental in Central’s rise from seventh in the conference in 2020 to ninth in Division III.
“She’s a big reason we took this jump,” Dunham said. “She’s in her fifth year. She’s been a huge part of the recruiting process and is an incredible leader. She was captain last year and filled her role extremely well this year so it’s special for me to see her experience this.”
